Technical Communication Professionals in Southwest Michigan | Prima Communications, Inc.
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Why Do You Need a Technical Communicator?
Posted on 01. Jul, 2010 by John K in Documentation & Training, Prima Communications Blog, Writing & Marketing
Often I am asked, “What is it Prima provides?”
When answering the question I have to decide, hmm, do I go with the stock answer and list all the services or does the questioner want to truly engage in a conversation regarding the talent technical communicators bring to the work environment.
In answering the above I would like to share an email I recently received from Stephanie Stamm, a Prima employee for over 10 years, who has worked in a variety of assignments.
From Stephanie:
“I’m struck again by how much of my job—and I’d bet this is true of most Primas—is making sure communication is happening between various clients.
For example, I received an email today from one of the sites asking me to post a number of documents to the HR library on the plant’s SharePoint website.
She also asked me to add a “Safety” folder to the HR library and upload a document there. Well, there is a separate Safety library on each plant’s site and a similar, but not identical, document was already uploaded in that library. So I emailed her the following (copying the Safety Manager):
As far as Safety goes, there is a 1.0 Safety library where Safety documents are located. The “General Safety Work Rules” document you sent is similar to, but not exactly the same as a document that is already uploaded, 1.02 General Plant and Safety Rules. Rather than having two documents that might possibly conflict, I’d suggest you work with [your Safety Manager] to make sure all the relevant items are covered in 1.02. I won’t upload the “General Safety Work Rules” until I hear from you or [him] about that one.
I got a reply back from the Safety Manager, saying he agreed and all safety-related documents should be under the Safety library.
I guess another way to put all this is that a lot of times our job involves NOT doing exactly what we are asked to do, but figuring out what the client really needs instead.”
Technical communications is more than tools and the ability to write. A true technical communicator is going to understand the mission of the organization and the intricacies of their communications tools (both internal and external).